Your Next Arts Opportunity? NZ's Best Call For Entries Right Now
We've got 10 of the top chances to get your creative mahi displayed, funded or supported!
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Opportunity knocks - are you ready to answer?
Artists across Aotearoa are always on the hunt for ways to develop their talents, build ideas into realities and have their mahi seen and appreciated in exhibitions, on stages and on the streets all over the motu.
To guide you on your way - here's a list of some of the best call for entries open across New Zealand right now - but hurry, some of these entries are closing soon!
Open Studios Residency 2024/2025 -The Arts Village
ENTRIES CLOSE 25 OCTOBER
A Bay of Plenty institution, The Arts Village is on the lookout for innovative artists with a cool art idea to take up a studio residency over December 2024 and January 2025.
4 positions are available in this 6-week residency opportunity, providing not just a chance to show your work to the public, but also to grow new connections with your peers. Chosen residents will get the chance to play an active part in the Rotorua community, delivering workshops and taking part in volunteer work.
Each selected artist will receive, Six weeks of studio space within a shared studio environment, six weeks of studio support, promotion via the Arts Village Team, and access to equipment resources, materials and living stipend.
The Residency has been delivered in various forms since 2011 and focuses on providing artists with studio space, materials, and a broad brief for projects that offer artistic enrichment for both the individual artist and our wider community.
Molly Morpeth Canaday Award 2025
ENTRIES CLOSE 27 OCTOBER
With an established reputation that's ever growing, the Molly Morpeth Canaday Award is a crucial staple in the Aotearoa creative calendar, the country's longest running art prize.
Celebrating excellence in contemporary art across the nation, this prestigious award invites artists to enter their best work for their chance to be in the running for one of the country's most esteemed art competitions.
Arts Whakatāne is calling for entries for the MMCA 2025 - open to all artforms, with artists able to enter up to three separate entries.
The judges for 2025 have been set with Fiona Jack (Head of School, Fine Art, Auckland University), Dr. Elliot Collins, Ph.D. Visual Art. (Artist and researcher) and James Gatt (Curator, Te Uru) the preliminary judges - and Sonya Korohina (Director, Tauranga Art Gallery, Toi Tauranga) confirmed as guest judge.
There are 12 awards on offer, with $10,000 for the major award - with a range of other prizes inckuding a youth award, high commended, a series of merit awards and people's choice.
ENTRIES CLOSE 31 OCTOBER
The Ōrākei Local Board is making project funding available for community led projects that benefit those who live and work in Glendowie, St Heliers, Kohimarama, Mission Bay, Ōrākei, Meadowbank, St Johns, Stonefields, Ellerslie and Remuera.
Grants generally range from between $500 - $2,500 (sometimes greater for exceptional events) to enable access and create opportunities for anyone engaging with the arts - be they professional or amateur artists.
The arts broker scheme encourages open access arts activities delivered locally, with organisers interested to hear from all disciplines and cultural traditions.
All projects must benefit people living and working in Ōrākei. Anyone living or working in Ōrākei is eligible to apply - with some exeptions made to include people with expertise from outside the area, or collaborate with people from other areas to bring art and cultural experience to the people of Ōrākei.
ENTRIES CLOSE 22 NOVEMBER
The Botanical Art Society of New Zealand are bringing back the Botanical Art Worldwide exhibition, after the raging success of its inaugural entry in 2018.
New Zealand is one of over 30 countries taking part and the search is on for artists to submit botanically accurate 2D work to this juried exhibition.
The theme for Aotearoa's 2025 exhibition is ‘Crop Diversity’ and covers heritage crops, their wild relatives, ancient crops as well as useful crops grown in NZ.
The goals of this exhibition are to link the world’s people with plants through botanical art; to build partnerships between artists, institutions, scientists and the public; to increase appreciation and understanding of the world’s precious plant diversity by encouraging people to think about the problems associated with monoculture of the food and other crops we rely on; and to acknowledge and build upon the increasing connections between botanical artists worldwide.
Anyone NZ resident or NZ citizens living abroad are welcome to enter any 2D work which fits the theme - while a diverse range of subjects and mediums encouraged, unfortunately digital work, AI generated and photography will not be considered.
The exhibition will open March 2025 in Auckland then travelling until December to Wellington and Ashburton, including on .‘World Day of Botanical Art’ on 18 May 2025.
Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award 2025
ENTRIES CLOSE 9 DECEMBER
With a reputation for encouraging creative approaches to celebrating tūpuna (ancestors) and their stories, this exhibition continues to rise in stature.
The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award provides young Māori artists with the opportunity to showcase their talents on the national stage, while also playing an important role in recording and honouring those who have come before them.
The Award culminates with an exhibition of finalist artworks at The New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata in Wellington over a three month period, timed to coincide with Matariki. Judging of the shortlisted works is undertaken by a distinguished panel at the opening of the exhibition.
There's a big carrot for the winner as well - with a first prize cheque of $20,000, with a runner up and people's choice both to awarded $2,500.
Waiheke Community Art Gallery Artist in Residence 2025 -
ENTRIES CLOSE 6 DECEMBER
Often considered a retreat for artistic endeavours, Waiheke could become a temporary home for a successful applicant.
The Waiheke Community Art Gallery has run this Artist in Residence programme since 2007 - with next year the 10th iteration of this biennial event.
The successful recipient will spend 12 weeks living and creating art on the iconic Island, becomng part of the Waiheke community that contains many creatives working across a range of media and approaches. Inspirational opportunites are abound to either develop and expand their practice - and create a new body of work for an exhibition at the end of their residency.
Accommodation and a car are provided to the artist as well as the use of nearby Owhanake Barn for a large studio work space, along with a weekly stipend and materials provided to the value of $1000 - and support from the gallery team.
New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Awards 2025
ENTRIES CLOSE 16 DECEMBER
One of the many staples in the Waikato Society of Arts's annual offerings is a prime opportuinty to shone a light on a sometimes under-appreciated group of Aotearoa creatives.
The New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Awards has been running since 2000, with an exhibition held at Artspost galleries in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton, along with workshops and artist talks, all free to the general public.
The Main prizes for Painting and Printmaking are $12,000 each, with two merit awards of $2,000 to be won.
Event opening and award ceremony will be held on Friday 21 February 2025.
ENTRIES CLOSE 17 JANUARY
Calling all artists, actors and performers - do you have an issue you want to engage with the public about?
PARK(ing) Day is an annual open-source global event where citizens, artists and designers collaborate temporarily to transform metered parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces or temporary public places.
Wellington Sculpture Trust - in association with Wellington City Council - is seeking creative proposals for temporary installations to occupy inner-city car parks for one day. They should be accessible; enliven the capital's cityscape; provoke reflection about how we use public space; and encourage interaction and engagement.
Successful proposals will receive $500 towards costs, with two $500 awards for Judge's Choice and People's Choice winners.
Mātātuhi Foundation 2024 Literary Funding Grants
APPLICATIONS CLOSE 31 OCTOBER
The second of the foundation's Biannual Funding Grants window is currently open, with
Applications are invited twice a year,
with an offer of support that will be tempting to many in the literary world.
Each year, the Foundation aims to distribute a discreet number of project grants, ranging between $5,000 and $20,000, to projects that have the potential to deliver against one or more of the following priority areas for Aotearoa New Zealand - developing a sustainable platform that grows awareness and readership of books and writers from NZ; increasing engagement with children’s literature from NZ; and building access to and knowledge of NZ’s literary legacy.
This can relate to NZ fiction, non-fiction, or poetry, and can be a new initiative or expand an existing programme with clearly identified, achievable and measurable outcomes.
Toi i te Waru – art in the heat of summer
ENTRIES CLOSE 11 NOVEMBER
The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts - in collaboration with the New Zealand Parliament - invites entries responding to the theme of Toi i te Waru for exhibition in Te Papakura art gallery. Located within the Executive Wing of Parliament Buildings, the exhibition will run from 20 December 2024 to the end of April 2025.
The name of the exhibition has been gifted by Ngā Ratonga Ao Māori at New Zealand Parliament, and reflects the warmth and joy the summer months bring.
Toi i te Waru literally means “art in the eighth”, being a reference to the eighth month of the Māori year (Huitanguru, usually around February). As this is the hottest time of year, however, i te waru “in the eighth” has become a colloquial saying more or less equivalent to “in the heat of summer”.
Works must be no more than 80cm in either dimension when framed.
Looking for more opportunities? Check out all our latest listings for other call for entries and jobs.
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